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UNCONSCIOUS BIAS
26
hrmonline.com.au
AHRI
TRAINING
Each month, HRM will look at one of AHRI's
popular short courses available to members.
Here coach Peta Bayman, talks about
what's involved in unconscious bias training.
Q WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES WHEN
INTRODUCING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS TRAINING?
Quite often managers say they make split-second decisions about
someone, and they can be quite proud of their 'instincts'. I would
conjecture this is simply unconscious bias at play. The very nature
of 'unconscious' is what makes this a difficult topic to train
against, because if we aren't aware of it, how can we do anything
about it?
When I host a training session, another big challenge I come
up against is that people feel guilty or wrong for admitting they
have bias; they think they are going to get a lesson in political
correctness. My job is to make people see that bias isn't inherently
wrong; it's just the lens through which we see the world.
Q HOW DO YOU BEGIN THE
TRAINING SESSIONS?
I usually start with asking participants to look at a series of
photos of people or optical illusions. This helps them realise that
the brain is the problem, not the eyes -- we are hardwired for bias.
Participants also take an online test (available through an AHRI
training toolkit) to see how unconscious biases influence their
decision-making. If we examine our decisions, we very quickly
realise that most of what we do is not logical or evidence based.
I ask participants to keep asking 'why': Why do I believe
certain things? Why do I prefer certain things? Eventually, you
can get them to the core of why they think the way they do. From
there, it's easier to see why their business might have an issue with
gender diversity, age diversity and so on.
Q UNDERSTANDING WHY BIAS OCCURS IS ONE THING.
HOW DO YOU THEN AFFECT CHANGE?
Once we have covered how bias subtly influences our work
decisions, we discuss ways to combat bias. The biggest thing
is to get people past feeling guilty about being biased. It's not
about being perfect, it's about becoming aware of the biases and
prejudices we have and creating processes to counteract them.
I ask participants to discuss the challenges within their
specific business and ways bias plays a role in that context.
Participants then swap ideas and discuss the impact of bias
within organisations, including any legal components. We look
at practical strategies for counteracting bias as well. This includes
things like implementing neutral candidate selection criteria or
getting others to review our choices. Generally, the earlier you can
catch bias the better.
Q WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF UNCONSCIOUS
BIAS TRAINING?
Looking at the need for diversity and inclusion in organisations is
beneficial from a financial, ethical and legal perspective. I suggest
it goes even further: confronting unconscious bias is a key aspect
of the leadership mindset. Faced with our volatile, complex and
ambiguous business environment, doing what we have always
done will not cut it. We need out leaders to be flexible and nimble.
If we are not getting the performance we want, then we need to
look at the habits that contribute to that performance. Examining
our unconscious biases is a useful way to begin asking different
questions to make better, less arbitrary decisions that have a
crucial impact on our organisations and the world.
UPSKILL ON BIAS:
AHRI's Managing Unconscious Bias at Work half-day course
and/or training kit will increase the awareness and prevalence
of bias and its impact in the workplace. Book by 30 June, 2016
and receive $200 off the price of corporate in-house team
training and/or training toolkits. Find out more:
www.ahri.com.au/mub